Train strikes vehicle in Isabella County, two hurt

Two people were seriously hurt after the vehicle they were traveling in was struck by a train in Isabella County on Monday night.

The Isabella County Sheriff’s Office reports driver Heather Lee Foster of Rosebush and her passenger Levi Light of Mount Pleasant, both 20 years old, were heading west on Denver Road in a 2006 GMC Envoy. Foster failed to yield at the railroad crossing near Mission Road just before 9 p.m. when the accident occurred.

The engineer of a northbound Great Lakes Central Railroad locomotive, Joshua William Whorley, 32, Owosso, saw the vehicle was not going to stop and applied the brakes before the Denver Road crossing.

The train struck the Envoy between the driver and passenger door on the driver’s side, and pushed the vehicle about 2/10 of a mile before coming to a stop.

Foster was airlifted from the scene to the Hurley Medical Center in Flint, where she is in critical condition today. Light was taken to the Central Michigan Community Hospital, the airlifted to Covenant HealthCare in Saginaw, where he was treated and released.

The engineer and conductor of the train were not hurt.

Investigation shows Foster was not paying attention to the upcoming crossing and did not see or hear the approaching train, a media release states. Alcohol and drugs are not believed to be a factor in the accident.